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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24997393">Words of Reassurance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeceTA/pseuds/CeceTA'>CeceTA</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fairy Tail</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>3+1, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt and comfort, Nalu Week, Nalu week 2020, Post canon, References to various points of the show</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:56:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,301</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24997393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeceTA/pseuds/CeceTA</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whenever Natsu or Lucy are feeling down, they can rely on each other’s words to make things better. </p>
<p>Or: 3 times Lucy reassured Natsu and 1 time he reassured her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>101</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Words of Reassurance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is for day 1 of Nalu week - voice. This was going to be a 5+1 but I got stuck when trying to think of more scenarios.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>1.</p>
<p>Lucy stretched her arms out above her head as she walked along the river bank, reveling in the calm of the late evening.</p>
<p>“Don’t fall in,” she muttered to herself with a giggle, thinking about all the times she’d been told those same words by the man on the river boat.</p>
<p>She reached her apartment and quickly walked up the stairs to her door, ready to collapse in bed. Her day hadn’t been particularly tiring but she’d been on a mission the day before and needed to catch up on sleep. </p>
<p>As soon as she opened the door, she was met with the sight of Natsu laying on her bed. She let out a quiet sigh and started to walk over, ready to shout at him like usual. </p>
<p>Something seemed off, though.</p>
<p>As she caught sight of the sullen expression on his face, she froze in place. It wasn’t like him to not greet her with a smile whenever she found him here.</p>
<p>“Natsu?” she whispered, slowly walking over and crouching down in front of the bed. </p>
<p>Lucy’s eyebrows furrowed as he shuffled slightly, turning his head so that it was buried in her pillow. That only served to increase her concern. </p>
<p>“Are you okay?”</p>
<p>As Natsu lifted his head up and turned to meet her gaze again, pale moonlight streamed in through the windows, making the dry tear marks on his cheeks visible to her.</p>
<p>“I’ve been thinking about Igneel,” he admitted, dropping his head back down onto the pillow, “and what I would have told him if he hadn’t—“</p>
<p>“Oh, Natsu,” she whispered, worry laced in her voice.</p>
<p>Lucy quickly stood up, clambering over him to lie down on the bed and opening her arms to him in offer of a hug. He rolled over to face her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into her shoulder.</p>
<p>“He’s the only family I actually remember.” </p>
<p>She barely heard Natsu’s words (they were muffled by the fact that his face was pressed against her neck) but she felt her a pain in her heart at his broken tone.</p>
<p>“While that may be true, you’ll always have us at Fairy Tail who will always be there for you,” she reassured him, gently combing a hand through his hair in a repeated motion. Her lips curled into a soft smile. “You’re usually the one reminding all of us about that.”</p>
<p>Natsu moved his head so that they were face-to-face, her hand slipping out of his hair. His eyes crinkled as a smile formed on his lips and he pressed their foreheads together.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” he said.</p>
<p>After a few moments of peaceful silence, he moved back to his original position, his arms tightly wrapped around her waist. </p>
<p>“Can you read some more of your book to me? I need something to distract me.”</p>
<p>“Of course,” she responded quietly, reaching over to the windowsill to grab it. This wasn’t the first time he’d asked (and she knew it was just so he could hear her voice because he once loudly admitted it was soothing to him) and it likely wouldn’t be the last.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>2.</p>
<p>A few weeks later, Lucy exchanged a wave with Mirajane as she entered the guild hall, smiling as she took in the bustling scene around her.</p>
<p>As per usual, there was a brawl happening. Erza must not be there yet today, or else it would have been broken up already.</p>
<p>Lucy watched as Gray landed a punch on Elfman’s face and sent him flying into the wall with a bang, Juvia loudly cheering him on in the background. </p>
<p>Natsu was— </p>
<p>Lucy blanched for a moment as she realised that he wasn’t part of the fight, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He was always here by this time of the day.</p>
<p>She glanced around, not spotting him anywhere on the ground floor. As she looked up at the floor above, she noticed him leaning over the railing and staring down below at a random spot in the middle of the guild hall. His arms were crossed, his head resting upon them. </p>
<p>Her eyebrows creased into a frown as she caught the conflicted look in his eyes. She always hated seeing him unhappy — it felt unnatural to not see him smiling. </p>
<p>Ignoring the shout of her name from Cana, she made her way over to the steps and sprinted up them, pacing over to him. </p>
<p>“Hi!” Lucy reached out, tapping a finger to his back a few times.</p>
<p>Upon receiving no response from him, she slowly waved her hand in front of his face. That managed to snap him out of whatever thoughts he’d been spirally through. </p>
<p>“Oh. Hey, Luce,” he said, lips curling into a grin. The happiness wasn’t reflected in his eyes, though, as they lacked their usual spark of joy.</p>
<p>“Are you okay?” Lucy questioned, watching as his fake smile faltered. </p>
<p>Natsu let out a sigh, looking back down at the same spot on the ground floor his gaze had been focused on before.</p>
<p>“<i>He</i> died down there.”</p>
<p>Ah. He’d been thinking about Zeref.</p>
<p>Their eyes met once again as he turned his head to face her, his posture hunched and his eyebrows deeply furrowed. Lucy also noticed that his hands were tightly gripping the railing and the wood was starting to crack. </p>
<p>“Is it bad that I feel sad about his death?” Natsu’s words came out shakily, his bottom lip shaking.</p>
<p>Her eyes softened as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Natsu sounded so utterly broken — so much so that she realised this internal conflict must have been eating away at him for a while now. </p>
<p>“He may have been a bad person, but he was still your brother. It’s okay to feel this way,” she reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze.</p>
<p>A loud sigh escaped Natsu’s lips, his figure slumping over even more. His lip quivered as he processed her words, his face scrunching up. </p>
<p>“Yeah, you’re right,” he let out a shaky breath of air. “It’s always going to feel weird, though.”</p>
<p>“That’s completely okay,” Lucy affirmed, giving his shoulder another light squeeze as he stood up straight. “Do you want a hug?”</p>
<p>As soon as she opened out her arms, he collapsed into them. Lucy’s legs almost buckled under the sudden weight, but she managed to stay upright. </p>
<p>“It’s okay,” she repeated as he tightened his grip on her, brushing back the strands of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes and placing a soft kiss to his forehead.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>3.</p>
<p>About a month later, Lucy awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of rustling bedsheets and whispered words. A foot hitting her leg knocked her out of her half-asleep state as her eyes adjusted to the darkness enveloping the room. </p>
<p>She propped herself up, looking down at Natsu, letting pita gasp when she noticed the state he was currently in. He had a thin layer of sweat coating his forehead, and the bedsheets were bunched up around him and held tightly in his hands. His breaths were laboured, and his chest rapidly rose and fell. Then his body let out a violent jolt that snapped him out of whatever nightmare he was going through. </p>
<p>As his eyes suddenly snapped open, the movement stopped.</p>
<p>“Natsu?”</p>
<p>Lucy jumped at the noise, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was just Happy. Natsu must have woken him up, too.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” Natsu mumbled, taking in deep gulps of air to slow down his breathing. “You can go back to sleep if you want to.”</p>
<p>“Go back to sleep? Natsu, I can’t just ignore this.” Lucy said, her voice raising ever so slightly as her eyes softened with sympathy.</p>
<p>“It was a nightmare, wasn’t it?” Happy said, nuzzling into Natsu’s side as his eyes welled up with tears.</p>
<p>At those words, Natsu lost his composure and choked out a loud sob. His eyes brimmed with tears as his breathing started to return to its erratic state. </p>
<p>Lucy immediately enveloped him in a hug, not even caring that he was covered in sweat and smelled really bad. </p>
<p>The three of them sat in the dark like that for a few minutes, only the sound of Natsu’s (and Happy’s) sobs filling the air. Lucy felt herself tear up a little, too, but she managed to hold it in. She had to be the one to stay strong in this moment.</p>
<p>“Do you mind telling me what happened in your nightmare?” She asked softly, cradling his head against her shoulder as tears began to stream down his face and soak into the fabric of her nightgown.</p>
<p>“It’s okay if you don’t want to.” Happy added to which she nodded in affirmation. </p>
<p>“No, it’s okay,” he said, pulling back from the hug. He slid the back of his hand across his face, wiping the fresh tears onto his hand.</p>
<p>Taking in a fewdeep breaths, he took a moment to calm down so that he could explain — hopefully, without breaking down again.</p>
<p>“I dreamt that I actually lost you that day — that she had actually killed you.”</p>
<p>He was talking about Dimaria. He didn’t even need to explain who <i>she</i> was for Lucy to understand that. From the little sniffle she heard from Happy, it seemed that he had come to the same conclusion. </p>
<p>Another sob caught in the back of his throat, this time joined by the sound of Lucy’s own shuddered breaths as he collapsed back into her arms and almost sent them toppling over the edge of the bed. He looped his arms around her waist, holding onto tightly as if he afraid she could slip away at any moment. </p>
<p>“I’m still here, Natsu. I’m alive. I am never going to leave you — I promise.”</p>
<p>“Even if Lucy is in danger again,” Happy began to say. She felt Natsu inhale sharply as the images from his nightmare likely flooded back into his mind, “I know you’ll be able to save her. You two always save each other in the end.”</p>
<p>“He’s right,” she whispered, feeling Natsu’s grip slowly slack as he calmed down. “Even if I’m in danger, I know you’re somewhere nearby. It’s one of the many reasons I love you, Natsu.”</p>
<p>If her past self (pre joining Fairy Tail) had been in a situation like the one during the war with Alvarez, she would have been petrified. But she knew not to be scared now. If she wasn’t enough on her own, she knew he’d find a way to save her.</p>
<p>“I love you, too,” he mumbled as he lifted his head to look her in the eye, a shaky smile on his lips and his usual sparkle of glee returning to his eyes.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>+1.</p>
<p>Another trip, another failure.</p>
<p>A few days ago, a rumour about a golden key had reached her ears. Apparently, someone had found a golden key when stopping at a river while on a hike and believed it to be a celestial spirit gate key.</p>
<p>It had to be Aquarius’ key.</p>
<p>This wasn’t the first time a rumour like this had been spread. Lucy had already been on multiple journeys all the way across the continent, following all the leads she could possibly find.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this particular rumour was another fake.</p>
<p>When she had arrived at the village after spending an entire day on the train (the sole reason Natsu hadn’t joined her), she had already felt exhausted. Still, she managed to find the man rumoured to have the gate key.</p>
<p>It turned out to be a fake, poorly made copy of Aquarius’ key. It was bad enough that the rumour was false and she’d ended up wasting her time, but the guy just had to go and make it worse by trying to scam her. Despite his insistence, she knew for a fact that it was not the real key.</p>
<p>“Welcome home!”</p>
<p>Too focused on throwing her suitcase to the floor and collapsing on the bed, her mind filtered out Natsu’s greeting.</p>
<p>Natsu frowned as he watched her flop onto the bed, burying her face into the pillow. He exchanged a concerned look with Happy who placed his fish down on the counter before flying over to her. Natsu followed. </p>
<p>Happy took a closer glance at Lucy and then at the open window. “I’ll come back later. Take care of her,” he said, sprouting his wings and flying away.</p>
<p>“Another dead end?” Natsu asked. He sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to hold her hand in his own. </p>
<p>Upon receiving no response, he carefully looped his arm around her waist and moved her into an upright position, placing her on his lap. </p>
<p>Lucy immediately hooked her arms around his neck, burying her face into the crook of his neck. She let out a large sigh, silent tears beginning to cascade from her eyes. </p>
<p>“Sometimes, it feels like I’ll never find her — like I should just give up.”</p>
<p>Natsu rubbed a hand up and down her back comfortingly, pressing kisses to her forehead and cheeks as he whispered reassurances into her ear.</p>
<p>“Don’t give up. You’ll find her someday,” he said as her hands scrunched up the material of his shirt. “If you keep going to all these places to find her, it’ll make it even better when you finally do. It feels like it wasn’t all for nothing.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” she whispered, reaching up and trying to rub away her tears.“You’re right.”</p>
<p>Slowly, Lucy’s lips curled into a soft smile which Natsu returned with a large grin. She wiped away the last of her tears with the back of her hand before briefly pressing her lips to his. </p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! This is the first time I’ve written for this fandom since 2017 so sorry if they seem a little OOC at any point.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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